Compact fluorescent bulbs utilize less energy than incandescent bulbs designed to produce the same amount of light. Consequently, compact fluorescent bulbs generate less heat in outputting light than comparable incandescent bulbs. As a result, compact fluorescent bulbs are more energy efficient than comparable incandescent bulbs. Compact fluorescent bulbs will also last up to ten times longer than comparable incandescent bulbs.
A quad-tube fluorescent bulb is one example of a compact fluorescent bulb. Quad-tube fluorescent bulbs may be an assembly of four single tubes in a square arrangement, or an assembly of two bent (“U”-shaped) fluorescent tubes arranged in a square-like arrangement.
The positioning of the fluorescent tubes within a light fixture and the shape and/or color of a lampshade or fixture are factors that affect the amount of light output/illumination from the quad-tube fluorescent bulb. Typically, when a quad-tube fluorescent bulb is utilized in a conventional table lamp, the quad-tube fluorescent bulb is installed vertically, i.e., in a position perpendicular to a base of the fixture. When the quad-tube fluorescent bulb is installed vertically, each of the four fluorescent tubes is exposed, such that the maximum amount of illumination is produced from the quad-tube bulb. The maximum amount of illumination consists of seventy-five percent direct light and twenty-five percent reflected light.
There are other lighting devices, such as desk lamps, ceiling light fixtures, ventilator/light combination units, and/or recessed light fixtures where the quad-tube fluorescent bulb extends beyond the housing of the light fixture or does not fit within the light fixture, if the quad-tube fluorescent bulb is installed in a vertical position. As a result, quad-tube fluorescent bulbs are frequently installed in a horizontal position within these fixtures.
In conventional light fixtures that utilize quad-tube fluorescent bulbs, the receptacle for the quad-tube fluorescent bulb is installed so two bulbs are directly in front of the other two bulbs when viewed from directly in front of the fixture. The receptacles for these bulbs only allow the bulb to be installed in this configuration. The maximum amount of illumination in this configuration is fifty percent direct light and fifty percent indirect or reflected lighting.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a lighting apparatus and method for outputting light from a quad-tube fluorescent bulb that maximizes the amount of direct light output from a quad-tube fluorescent bulb and minimizes the amount of indirect of reflected light output from a quad-tube fluorescent bulb, when the quad-tube fluorescent bulb is installed.